TODAY: In 1961, Dashiell Hammett dies.
- “True Grit is a story about how, in times of upheaval, the mind clings to systems for safety.” Piers Gelly revisits Charles Portis’s masterpiece after Trump’s reelection. | Lit Hub Criticism
- “I’ve come to realize how much of my doubt is actually fear.” Adam Haslett on harnessing doubt. | Lit Hub Craft
- Mary Frances Phillips on Erika and John Huggins, the misunderstood history of the Black Panther Party, and attempts to liberate Black women in America. | Lit Hub History
- “The narrator’s voice is an extraordinary hybrid of a boy’s plaintive innocence and a man’s wry reflection.” 5 book reviews you need to read this week. | Book Marks
- Gabeba Baderoon explores historical trauma in South Africa and the ways we do and do not confront personal and collective violence. | Lit Hub Memoir
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Adam Haslett’s Mothers and Sons, Liz Pelly’s Mood Machine: The Rise of Spotify and the Costs of the Perfect Playlist, and Karissa Chen’s Homeseeking all feature among the best reviewed books of the week. | Book Marks
- Take a look at some of Edward Gorey’s (richly illustrated) correspondence. | The Paris Review
- “Your grandmother, like the mother in the novel, could have been mistaken for somebody who had nothing, who came from nothing, who was nothing.” Nathan Dize on a translation project that hits close to home. | Words Without Borders
- Is escapist literature synonymous with comfort? Not necessarily. | Reactor
- “Why must we breathe? What does wanting have to do with the functioning of my body?” Jamieson Webster on climate, psychoanalysis, and breath. | Broadcast
- Rebecca Solnit considers climate crisis and the California wildfires. | The Guardian
- “Higgins calls his own study a ‘social history of veterans in the age of mass incarceration.’” Steve Early and Suzanne Gordon examine America’s military to prison pipeline. | Jacobin
